Friday, September 24, 2010

Thanks for joining us for another edition of "On the Block," a radio program that takes a critical look at the United States criminal justice system. On today's show, we will hear from the relatives of two prisoners on death row. One is the older sister of Troy Davis, Martina Correia. Davis is currently sitting on death row for a crime that many believe he did not commit. Martina Correia has been fighting for the release of her brother, Troy Davis, for more than two decades. While battling cancer, she has taken up the fight for her brother who she and many others believe was wrongly convicted for the killing of a Georgia police officer. We talk with her about the status of the case.

The other voice is that of Wayne Alexander, the nephew of Mumia Abu Jamal. In the 1980s, Mumia was convicted of the murder of a Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He currently sits on death row. Mumia and his supporters have for years proclaimed his innocence; demands for his release have been the focus of a large international movement for the last two decades. Wayne provides us with a perspective on how Mumia's family has been grappling with his imprisonment over the last 20 plus years.

Friday, September 17, 2010

On today's show, we will look at the movement against police brutality that has been re-focused recently on the case of Askia Sabur, a young African American male who was caught on video being beaten outside of a Chinese restaurant on September 3rd by police officers from Philadelphia's 19th Police District. According to reports, he was beaten with night sticks in his head until blood spilled onto the sidewalk, resulting in Askia receiving 6 head-staples, a neck-brace, multiple back injuries, a broken arm and other physical and emotional damage.

In the video footage of the attack that appears on one of the posts on YouTube, Askia is seen surrounded by four cops and being beaten by one with a night stick. Throughout the extent of the video, he is sitting on the sidewalk as he is being beaten, with the exception of two moments in which he is lying or kneeling on the ground.

In a roundtable discussion, organizers of a mass walk in protest of the beating of Askia Sabur--Dr. Weldon McWilliams, Minista, Brother Tommy, Keturah Caesar, and Adon X--speculate on the sociological basis of police brutality in the United States and explore solutions. We connect up with the roundtable discussion at the point where Adon X points out that while the attack on Askia was taking place, one of the police officers brandishes a gun at a group of by-standers that had gathered around the incident.

Special Thanks.

The PA Prison Reports are compiled by Andy and Bret of the Human Rights Coalition based on the accounts of prisoner correspondents and the investigations of HRC members. From the compiled data, the reports are re-written by Andy into the narratives you hear on "On The Block Radio." Many thanks. To access written transcripts of the PA Prison Reports, please go to: www.hrcoalition.org.

On today's show, we speak with the son of Mumia Abu-Jamal's twin brother about Mumia as an uncle and how Mumia's family has handled life during the years of Mumia's imprisonment.

Then we will hear from Jordan Flaherty author of "Floodlines" a collection of essays about racism and resistance in Louisiana during and after Hurricane Katrina. In our interview with him, we focus on the incidents of post-Katrina police brutality that he has reported on in his book.

All that coming up on On the Block. But first, the Pennsylvania Prison Report.

Special Thanks.

The PA Prison Reports are compiled by Andy and Bret of the Human Rights Coalition based on the accounts of prisoner correspondents and the investigations of HRC members. From the compiled data, the reports are re-written by Andy into the narratives you hear on "On The Block Radio." Many thanks. To access written transcripts of the PA Prison Reports, please go to: www.hrcoalition.org.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Thanks for joining us for another edition of On the Block Radio, on Philadelphia's only real community radio station, WPEB Radio, 88.1, Philadelphia.

On today's show we speak with State Representative Ronald Waters about his work on prison justice issues.

Most specifically, we will speak with him about his activism around the issue of solitary confinement in Pennsylvania prisons. In August he convened a hearing on solitary confinement in Pennsylvania prisons in which two ex-prisoners testified about their time in solitary confinement.